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Ireland team named for England clash

Robbie Henshaw will start at full-back as Ireland named their team for the Six Nations opener aga...



Ireland team named for England...
Videos

Ireland team named for England clash

Robbie Henshaw will start at full-back as Ireland named their team for the Six Nations opener against England.

With Joe Schmidt leaving Rob Kearney out of the 23, Leinster team-mate Henshaw takes the No 15 shirt. That means Connacht's Bundee Aki will now partner Garry Ringrose in the centre.

 

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The rest of Joe Schmidt's XV has a familiar feel. The front row is Cian Healy, captain Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong. Behind them in the pack lie the second row pair of Devin Toner and James Ryan.

The back-row is staffed by Josh van der Flier, Peter O'Mahony and CJ Stander. Jacob Stockdale, who scored a try against England in the 2018 fixture, is on the wing, with Keith Earls on the opposite flank.

The first-choice half-back partnership of Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray reconvene for this 2019 opener.

On the bench, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour and John Cooney provide options for change among the backs. Quinn Roux, David Kilcoyne, Sean Cronin, Sean O'Brien and Andrew Porter make up the rest of the potential replacements at the Aviva Stadium.

England team

Meanwhile, Eddie Jones also named his England team for Saturday's game.

 


England captain Owen Farrell starts at 10, with Henry Slade and Manu Tuilagi forming their centre partnership. Ben Youngs is at scrum-half and the back-three is made up of Jack Nowell, Elliot Daly and Jonny May. The second row pairing that will take on Toner and Ryan will be Maro Itoje and George Kruis. The front row is Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and Kyle Sinckler.

Mark Wilson, Billy Vunipola and Tom Curry form the back-row. And among the options on the England bench are George Ford, Chris Ashton and Courtney Lawes.

Kick off on Saturday is at 4.45pm and you can follow build-up and match-day on the Off The Ball social channels.

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Conor Murray England Ireland Johnny Sexton Josh Van Der Flier Off The Ball Robbie Henshaw Rugby Six Nations